I realize that the use of the word “cult” is “triggering” to some. But nevertheless, I persist, because confronting reality is better than sticking our collective heads in the sand.
I don’t want to get off-track on the subject of whether the Stanton Church of Christ is actually a cult or not. For that, you can go here for my thoughts.
But for this article, I’d like to flesh out the idea that there is a common thread among those who have come out of—let’s say—controlling organizations. I promise that I won’t use the word “cult” from here forward, to reduce any further “triggering.”
I want to approach this from the standpoint of an abusive/controlling relationship. Why, you might ask? Because I’ve helped mentor dozens of kids in foster care and other relationships who have been in physically or psychologically abusive/controlling relationships. I know what that looks like from the outside. And having been raised in Stanton, I know at least a little bit of what that looks like from the inside.
The most important point I want to convey to readers is that it can be a lengthy process to get your mind out of old thought patterns. You need to be patient with yourself and your old ways of thinking, while you steer your thought patterns out of old ruts. This isn’t an easy task.
It requires enough self-awareness to realize that the feelings you feel right now about God and “religion” (I use that word almost sarcastically) are feelings, not necessarily facts. I’ve told my teens ’til I’m blue in the face (not sure I’ve ever been blue in the face, actually) that you can’t really trust feelings. Yet that is what 99% of Stanton’s control of you is based on.
They say: Trust your “teachers” and don’t trust the brain God gave you.
Every dysfunctional behavior in Stanton proceeds from this. It is all about man-pleasing. It is 100% a matter of putting fallible men (OK, mostly women) above God himself.
Stanton requires you to submit your intellect—you know, the one that God gave you—to fallible people, based only on the “feeling” that these people have been given to you by God to lead you. But when you take them up on that offer, you end up being led like sheep to the slaughter.
So what I’m saying is to think about your own thought patterns. Do you tend to blame yourself for how you feel about God? Do you let your guilt consume you? Do you let your own failings follow you around and drag you down?
That’s not an entirely bad instinct. God created the concept of conscience and “guilt” for a reason; to help us have a gauge—a thermostat, so to speak—that can help us reform our behavior. But what *IS* a bad instinct is to carry that guilt all by ourselves, not realizing that Jesus came for the very reason of carrying that burden for us.
So if you find yourself bound by traditions of men—or even by shackles of your own making—I urge you to address the thought patterns that are nudging you in that direction. God blessed humans with self-awareness, and that’s what distinguishes us from the animal kingdom. We have the ability to look at ourselves from the standpoint of another human being, and then reflect and change our behavior.
If your thought patterns are entrenched in the Stanton mindset, be patient with yourself. Train your mind to be free of those shackles and look at the scriptures—and the world—with fresh eyes.
Amen, Kevin!
We are told constantly by the same teachers in the ways of nonmember classes that their preacher won’t be the ones at the throne protecting them, but that they need to know their bibles for themselves and on the other hand want us to rely on their forms of understanding. I’ve seen in my years, in the church, many teachers and preachers sat down and/or withdrawn from for oppression and/or how bad they treat people. A female teacher was sent to Tacoma from the same congregation that DWC came from and people were concerned that after DWC we removed from… Read more »
Proverbs 11:1 teaches an important principle and that being balance. In instructing one must use both positive reinforcement and negative reinforcement to achieve obedience to God’s commandments. In my time in the SCOC the reinforcement was mostly negative with doom and gloom teaching and preaching which created a belief in me that God was only negative waiting to destroy me for the most minor infraction. I have come to realize that there is a good side to God once I separated from the negative and toxic environment that was the Church of Christ in Phoenix Az. Yes God does have… Read more »
Politics aside as I consider it profane and vain babbling, I would ask Kevin Harper to post an article on “When Christians turn to criminality”and detail the evils of child abondment by Christians of the children they gave created, failure to pay child support, failure to parent your non custodial children in separated relationships, failure to pay alimony, child abuse of not only the christians own children, but of other people’s children in the congregation, pedophilia, stalking, welfare fraud, and more, all of which I have seen in the SCOC. When a convicted sex offender on parole is baptized into… Read more »
Mr. Montesquieu have you ever had your DNA tested at 23 and me? I wonder what you might say if your DNA profile showed some jewish ancestry? Just a thought.
You can see the future thru the scriptures, for example: Christ taught through the parable of rock and sand foundations in Matthew 7:24-27 what will happen. If you build your faith upon love then you will be as stable as a rock in a storm but if you build your faith upon hatred then you have built upon sand and will be washed away in the storms of life. Some never learn as it is written in 2 Timothy 3:7 and as such are stuck in the prison of repeating behaviors, as seen in the hatred women then hatred of… Read more »
Narcissists are driven by a desire for supremacy over others. This can be seen in their abusive behaviors toward others; the narcisist will bully many people until they find a willing victim that is why it is necessary to stand up to bullies from the start, to stop the abuse in the nacent stage. The narcisistic bully will usually seek out those who are weaker in someway than themselves and then freely abuse that person until they are stopped by others. It is not in the narcisist to control themselves around the weak; the narcisist needs external restraint to stop… Read more »
To understand the Jim Jones reference one must read the book: Raven: The untold story of the Rev. Jim Jones and his people by John Jacobs and Tim Reiterate in which he describes how Jim Jones recruited convicted felons and provided for their needs then used them to kill both current members and former members who criticized him. Even after his death some former members who came out against him were killed by this group of criminals called “angels” by Jim Jones. Could this be happening in the SCOC today? One has to wonder with the recent stalking what nefarious… Read more »
There are unscriptural and immoral techniques of manipulation used by high control supremist groups such as love bombing ( which is not love at all but rather grooming for further manipulation) and the double bind technique of manipulation. In the double bind manipulation targets are presented with conflicting messages which is a no win situation. Example: do not let sickness hold you back from bible study, or do not use sickness as an excuse from not attending the personal work and when you show up sick you are asked why do you want everyone else to get sick? You are… Read more »
The four horsemen of the apocalypse can be seen in the human behaviors of conflict, war, starvation, and death. In conflict one side starts by attacking others, in the SCOC this is done through criticism called ” persecution”. The victims behaviors are observed and identified then indirectly criticized at first the directly later. There may be nothing wrong or unscriptural about your behaviors but you are made to feel uncomfortable as your behaviors are portrayed as nefarious in some way. When individuals defend themselves the war starts in earnest. To prevent war christians are taught not to defend but to… Read more »
I have to ask is it too much to have the teaching preacher in the Phoenix area COC brought up for withdrawal for ordering the stalking of former members? Criminality, if not stopped will spread through a congregation like yeast through bread dough. What other acts of criminality are now common practice in the SCOC? One can only wonder. When the Bible is no longer the guiding light then you have a dark church, The candlestick will be removed; and there is no hope of salvation in an off church. Repentance from criminal behaviors is mandatory if there is to… Read more »
Proverbs 7 teaches not about a whore but rather an adulterous woman who entices, recruits, seduces, then kills her paramour. It is a fitting description of the old testament nation of Israel. In proverbs 7:19 you see the behavior of the adulteress when the husband is away and in Exodus 32:1-6 you see this same behavior as the people quickly were seduced and reduced to an idol when Moses was away. Ezekiel 16:30 gives the reason as of a weak heart. The nation of Israel was an adulterous wife to her God. As the mother was, do her daughter is.… Read more »
There are certain things that the human spirit cannot stand is a church management doctrine that is taught to teachers and preachers in the SCOC and what are those things? The human spirit cannot stand conflict. How is a church leader to deal with the arrogant and unruly members of their congregation? By putting them under conflict or persecution until they submit. The problem arises when temperance is not taught and church leaders are allowed to go to extremes in creating conflict with their followers, extremes such as child abuse, financial abuse, railings, heresies, and outright hatred. Racial hatred is… Read more »
One of the common slanders I heard while I was under persecution for being unruly, and I was unruly because I believed the writings in the Bible were true, was this: ” there is something wrong with his mind.” This insidious slander is impossible to disprove as it is both vague and abstract. Then looking at the behaviors of the church leaders who spoke this slander make you question their minds, one man had no limits on his own behaviors screaming for hours behind the pulpit another woman who used this slander would later teach that children go to hell,… Read more »
Testing
I am curious if any one else is an abstract thinker and not just a literal thinker. Insight or pattern recognition thinking helps one to reason through abstract concepts represented through figurative writing such as metaphors. In Proverbs 5:15-18 Solomon writes in the abstract saying drink waters out of your own cistern and running waters out of your own well. I see water as a metaphor for knowledge and a fountain as an external supply of knowledge like God’s word, a cistern as a man made container for water like our minds are made to store knowledge of God’s words… Read more »
Well it appears the blog is dead
The blog is far from dead, just look at the daily page views. One has to wonder about all the precious souls in Atlanta with the Tornadoes yesterday, pray for the good people of Atlanta.
This blog has proved to be an effective tool for dealing with wickedness. There have been many individuals who have grown or waxed strong in their abusive and arrogant behaviors and have been humbled by the edification on this blog. Many have taken great satisfaction in treating others as inferiors, others such as non christian family members or coworkers, children, women and their fellow christians; they have no boundaries for their wanton arrogance. However when you call their behaviors into question how do they react? When facing withdrawal these bullies fall away such is the hypocrite from Albuquerque. When he… Read more »
Bro you are clinging to a lot of grudges. I thought Christ wanted you to forgive and forget . RIGHT?!?!?
On a different note this one is for Ryan or whatever handle your using these days have you been let back in since your oppressors been withdrawn from for being oppressive ?
Thank you 007. The wickedness still exists, It was less than two months ago that was one of the sons of the Albuquerque preacher tried to follow me home from work, after I stopped attending in 2002, 18 years now of avoiding the abusers, the aggression does not stop but increases with time. I have had to deal with drug and alcohol addictions and several suicide attempts with my adult child that was drugged and molested by the still attending army veteran who was a medic in the airborne and preacher in the church of christ. Do you forgive an… Read more »
Well I don’t know where you’re getting your information or maybe if you just see things that maybe aren’t there but the preacher from Albuquerque only has one son who he’s a Christian and that son does not even live in Phoenix anymore the rest of them have nothing to do with the church so pretty sure if anybody followed you home it would not be one of them and even if it was I highly doubt they had anything to say to you that had anything to do with the church. And unless you can start putting out some… Read more »
I could be wrong in my observations of the individuals following me, and no that is not my address that was posted it is the pedophile address and not to deceive but to let him know that his evil deeds have not been forgotten, and he may indeed love the church but he also loves prepubescent boys. I did ask Kevin to remove it shortly after posting it. Wheat and tares, that is good and evil dwell side by side in the kingdom and always have and always will. In time the truth will come out and what will you… Read more »
The shame of being called a liar? Consider this: in Genesis Pharaoh told the midwives to kill the Hebrew babies but they did not and when questioned by Pharaoh they made up a lie saying the Hebrew women were more lively and had their babies faster than they could get there. This lie covered up how the midwives were protecting human life and this pleased God. Or consider Peter in Acts 6 having a husband and wife put to death for a lie but was so shallow he did not see murder a much worse sin (as it cannot be… Read more »
007 you are not aware of the happenings. In 2018 I posted how little I thought of a man for accepting 2500.00 more than what he asked for and shortly thereafter my house in Phoenix was burned. The fire was suspicious but the cause was undetermined was this just coincidence? Romans 8:28 says that all things happen for the good to christians so when something bad happens it is taught that the christian is in sin or hiding sin did my mocking the man prompt a fire to happen? I am curious your thoughts. Forgiveness is easy, stopping the evil… Read more »
007 as an insight this blog is red meat and not milk and honey. If you want milk and honey turn on Joel Osteen, but here we put the red meat on the plate. Child abuse, felony child abuse, pedophilia, heresies, injustices all, are openly discussed here. Please feel free to reprove me as well but I ask that before you shoot your darts at me first light them on fire and make them sting like the sting of a scorpion, and be strong like long haired Samson was strong. Do not talk about my physical attributes such as having… Read more »
Let me address the darkness of unbelief. A man gave a talk in southern ca once called “dead men do bleed” which became a self fulfilling prophecy. A psychiatrist had a patient that believed he was dead and no matter what he said the man believed he was dead. One day the doctor got him to agree that in death the heart stops pumping so the dead do not bleed then he pricked the man’s finger and out came blood and the man said wow the dead do bleed. The church is so deep into unbelief that when the catch… Read more »
On the subject of credibility it does not matter to me what you think of me but so that the name of God can be glorified and not reproached I will pray one prayer for manifestation that the pedophile’s evil behaviors be manifested to the whole congregation and the salvations of the children that he has taken away in his quest for pleasure be made known to all. And for those two individuals who attempted to follow me home; one black male and one white female let them also be made known to the congregation. I have but a little… Read more »
In dealing with the arrogant you can not teach them anything until they have first been humbled, then they will receive instruction and not before. In humbling you must attack their belief in their own supremacy and this is done in many ways. The carnal will attack superiority in carnal ways the spiritual will attack superiority in spiritual ways. The sacratoic method is to ask questions. The first sacratoic method is like a drill instructor to keep asking questions until the arrogant can not answer. This is suppose to work humility into the individual. A second sacratoic method is to… Read more »
There was a man who wrote in the abstract who lived before Christ and before Solomon who wrote a book called the art of war. In the art of war, a short book only thirteen chapters, he wrote everything there is to know about warfare, including spiritual warfare. In the first chapter he states that all warfare is based upon deception, a trojan horse was a deception that worked quite well, a friendly traitor like Judas is also a deception that works quite well too. In dealing with a wicked pedophilia I started by making a general accusation and when… Read more »
One of the members of the scapegoat club can be found in the story of Lazurus and the rich man in Luke 16:19-31. At first read you have to ask yourself “why did not Lazurus just steal some food?”. The story implies that they were not in famine where food is scarce for everyone, even the king is fed from the field, as the rich man ate well everyday, and most eat at least three times a day and some more, and being a food thief is very easy as I can speak from experience so why did not Lazurus… Read more »
Romans 1:18 ……… who hold the truth in unrighteousnes How I view some in the church is that they know the truth, yet the mishandle it even to the judgements of others. Through the scriptures we know what must be done, but in many important cases the scriptures are not adhered to. This is one of them – 2 Cor 1:3 Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; 4 Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the… Read more »
In Luke 16:19-31 it does not mention their respective ages. The begger could be young and the rich man old, or the could be the same age, or the begger could be old and the rich man young. It could have been going on for a long time or just a day. They could be related like a dead beat dad not paying child support to needy children, or it could be an adult child refusing to requite and elderly parent, it leaves these details out so it can be applied to many different situations. It seems that Lazurus thought… Read more »
On the subject of rich men and beggars one must consider the future. Economies rise and fall on a regular basis and in the next recession or depression will you be a rich person or a beggar? It does not say how many other beggars were outside the rich man’s house perhaps more than a few or just one but what can be deduced is that the rich man let a righteous man go hungry and suffered eternal damnation for his neglect. If in the future recession would you be prepared to give your crumbs to the righteous, if they… Read more »
One of the baffling things about the proverbs is that you don’t see them in daily life so they are difficult to understand. An example is Proverbs chapter 9 how it describes the behaviors of wisdom and when you look for those behaviors in leaders today you do not see them but they do exist and can be seen in the parable of the great wedding feast in Matthew 22:1-14 the house was built, the seven logs for the cooking of the beasts was certainly there as the meal was prepared, the table was furnished the messengers sent out and… Read more »
Only the blood of Christ can cleanse the sin from a man’s soul and remove the guilt that come with sin. Repentance and confession are required first though. Pedophilia does not carry the death penalty and it is the responsibility of church leadership to teach against sin, even the sin of pedophilia. To take the Lord’s supper with sin on one’s soul is damnation not recognizing the Lords sacrifice to be a holy thing worthy of great reverence. Selling one’s home and moving to the next city over does not remove the stain of sin and its guilt. Twenty years… Read more »
In conducting an anti bullying ministry it is important to expose the abusive behaviors of the aggressors and the lies they tell to cover up their atrocities. Lies like: it never happened, the victim lies, the victim exaggerates, the victim brought it upon themselves, and it’s time to forget the past and move on! A bully loves a silenced victim for this makes their lives easy to never be held accountable for their crimes. The most egregious are the bullies who abuse the weak, mainly women and children, then give talks at holiday or may meetings and encourage others to… Read more »
The curse of arrogance is that you waste your entire life trying to prove to yourself that you are superior to others when instead you could be trying to prove to yourself that you are humble. Paul the apostle made many statements like: Christ came to save sinners of whom I am chief and I have labored more abundantly than them all. This is humility to put yourself below others and to serve others. When you question the discharge type of the arrogant they feel inferior and lose all control and go against council and post on the apostates blog… Read more »
It is regrettable that when reproving the arrogant that their reaction is not repentance and confession but rather to go and find someone smaller and weaker to abuse to regain the feeling of superiority. Every member of the SCOC needs to be on the lookout for child abuse and call 911 for immediate assistance to stop it. Do not allow your children to be abused as the resulting trauma will scar the child both physically and mentally for life. I have to deal with my adult children’s PTSD from the trauma they suffered at the hands of the arrogant Christians… Read more »
To develop a deeper understanding one must learn both denotation and connotation . Denotation is the dictionary definition of a word but connotation is the actions, behaviors, and ideas associated with a word. If you take the word froward found in the book of proverbs and substitute the word arrogant for it you get the connotations for arrogance such as: proverbs 10:31 the arrogant tongue shall be cut out and that can be seen with Christ putting the Pharisees to silence. Because the arrogant believe that work is beneath them they can be very smart but also very lazy so… Read more »
I worked with a man (not a Christian) who had a one night relationship with a woman when he was 19 in his hometown of Boston and then left for the western states and never saw her again. At age 45 he was arrested for a minor crime and part of the processing was to take his DNA, he was released the next day and 60 days later the state of Massachusetts served him with a subpoena for unpaid child support for a child he never knew existed. The woman was on public assistance for 18 years raising his child… Read more »
In developing a deeper understanding of pride, arrogancy, and the superiority complex one needs to learn the behaviors of the arrogant and then look for those behaviors in the characters in the Bible and in ourselves and others in our life. The arrogant treat themselves very well but treat others badly. The arrogant take the best for themselves and let others go without. The arrogant are loud complains, braggarts, can be violent and impulse . In the book of Daniel king Nebuchadnezzar was an arrogant man easily seen in his behaviors of being short tempered, demanding, threatening and violent. In… Read more »
An animal kingdom metaphor for the superiority complex is the dog or wolf. The aggressive behaviors of those animals are the same for the arrogant. Dogs do not till the ground, they do not sow seed, and they sleep in harvest yet they eat by feeding off of the flock. So too the arrogant do not work but still expect to be fed and that of the best that is produced, an example is religious leaders who do not study their bibles for themselves but resort to stealing lessons from other sources such as Alexander Campbell, tapes of Merie, conversations… Read more »
In each mammal group there is a continuous need by each member of the group to rank themselves within the group and assign a measure of self worth according to one’s status within the group. This is the source of all contentions within a group when an individual is not content with their perceived ranking. The righteous like Job, Moses, and Christ all started in positions of high social status but willingly accepted the lowest position with expressing any discontentment about the demotion in status. Leadership has consistently sought to maintain their high social status and to drive out, discredit,… Read more »
In studying wisdom you learn to look at all sides before making a decision about a matter. The righteous in the Bible had very rational and predictable behaviors the wicked had very irrational and unpredictable behaviors. With Cain and Able the older brother was wicked and his over reaction was an irrational behavior. In studying modern day christians behaviors it is very confusing to see Christians behaving irrationally when they are supposed to be virtuous and rational, until one realizes that a Christian can be just as evil as an unbeliever when the have the same superiority complex as evil… Read more »
Proverbs 26:2 as the bird by wandering , as the swallow by flying, so the curse cause less shall not come. In Isreal there is an annual event of the swallows migrating south each winter, an interesting sight to behold. If the bird is a metaphor for a curse then wandering and flying are a metaphor for the time required for the curse to arrive, some come quickly some come after a long time but all curses come for a good reason. Today DNA testing is available for a cheap price (99.00) and one can voluntarily have their own DNA… Read more »
(Insert pedophile name here) fun games an Arizona llc registered on August 17, 2020. With church leadership watching you like a hawk are you seeking new hunting grounds? What better way to groom parents and gain their trust and then you will be able to isolate the children you hunt and molest then as you have done so many times before. Open a business aimed at young children (no one would suspect a father of how many children now?) Of being a child predator . But we know better than to trust you around children, Does your teaching preacher know… Read more »
Hi! I was raised in the PHX congregation and I’m genuinely concerned as I’ve had some issues with one of my eldest. Can you email me please offline? Carsonfamily9@yahoo.com
Sowing discord is one of seven abominations mentioned in Proverbs 6:16-19 and using racial slurs in a bible class is sowing discord as it separates bretheren along racial lines. White trash is a racial slur as it identifies a person by their skin color, and the bigot from Albuquerque may argue that he was just repeating what a babe had said in another congregation but if I as a white person repeated a racial slur for black people in a bible class would I not offend every black person in the church? Who would willingly follow a teaching preacher who… Read more »
Attention pedophile that now lives in Suprise Arizona; you do not need to commit suicide rather you need to repent and confess to all the children you have molested. To show proof of your repentance you need to show forth behaviors worthy of repentance and that would be voluntary castration. If something offend cut it off. As a father of one of the children you have molested after having endured years of dealing with my sons depression drug and alcohol addictions and suicide attempts I can still forgive you if you willingly get yourself castrated and then make your confession.… Read more »
When I tell my adult children that, God is so good if you desire to know him he will make a path for you to find him; understanding flow in my mind like water poured out of a pitcher. If you are a Christian and lack understandings then try praising God verbally to others and see what good comes from it.
I was baptized in 1990 and I can say that in 2021 31 years later I have found the land of milk and honey. God’s favor makes everything flow smooth as silk and finding favor with God is to glorify him as good to others. To speak good about his mercies or to speak good about his people, or to speak good about his son Jesus Christ will put you in favor with God. If you are having a hard time in life if your missing out on the blessing of financial support or the blessing of emotional comfort the… Read more »
I am currently reading a book written by one of the early Church of Christ preachers and he is talking about private and public sins. He is definitely against turning private sins public, which I began to believe in what I came back around 2000. One thing he is pointing out is this verse – Matthew 18:15 Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. You will notice that it says between you and who you offended ALONE. I… Read more »
The wisdom of Christ is truly greater than any other wisdom. A little leaven will effect the entire lump. Emotions are a leaven which will affect every area of one’s life, for an example in Proverbs 10:12 it says that love covers all sin, this effect of love to be able to forgive others of their wrongs will spread so that one can forgive themselves for the wrong they have done to others and move a mountain of guilt. Hatred is also an emotional leaven which will spread to every area of one’s life thus one can understand the teaching… Read more »
Luke 6:28
Bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you.
Proverbs 10:1 says that A wise son maketh a glad father but a foolish son is the heaviness of his mother and when taken and applied to Cain and Abel one can deduce that the evil behavior of the murderous Cain was foolishness in the eyes of God and he was rejected by both God and his family forever and mother earth had to bear him forever. When a person displays aggressive behavior is not violence and death close behind? How wise it is to choose obedience like Able did and make God pleased with oneself than to resort to… Read more »
When it is revealed to you that your child has been abused by one of your fellow Christians you will get angry and want to do harm to that person that you once trusted. You will rage on the inside at the harm done to your child but also equally offensive is the violation of trust you bestowed upon that person because they were called Christian. Yet like Cain and Abel you will have to choose your response and will it be carnal like Cain or Spiritual like Able? Two wrongs will not make the situation right. The children will… Read more »